Monday, January 27, 2014

Income

So I let 2013 roll by without a single post - probably had something to do with my lasting motivation, and the other areas of my life that I was focused on - none the less, all of them are pretty shitty excuses for the best therapy that I know - 300 words a day, or a week, or a month, of somewhat meaningless scribble out here in the land of the blogosphere (I think that is a word...) So the new year, new posts, new thoughts, new directions - same news stories, just different flavors - right now, the entire income inequality debate is raging in full force - the Pope is even chiming in, to the dire responses of the Republican Party, and the somewhat deaf ears of the establishment Dems. I cannot help but think if the thought does not fit into a 30 second commercial, that US politicians really don't want to bother with it. I sit and watch CSPAN (I work from home quite a bit) and listen to the former attorneys, who now make more than 97% of the population place blame and throw caustic speeches - and we still wonder why nothing ever gets done. I have a fail safe plan, and albeit simple - it should work for the purposes of income distribution, how about rolling back the Bush Tax Cuts, and really defining the food stamp program for what it is - it is a national price support program for farmers and mega-agricultural companies...you can argue all that you want with those two definitions, but plain and simple, the tax cuts were temporary, the food stamp program is not. I read the articles from Wall Street mavens screaming that capitalism drives the system - but I cry back - bullshit - if that were the case, then I would have access to the lobbyist, and then have access to the congress person - trust me, I have written a few letters, and the responses I get are nothing more than hand job form letters that ask me to donate more - donate to what? Capitalism does not drive the system - greed drives the system - when you get fined $13 billion from the DOJ, cry unfairness, and get a $20 million dollar raise, what are the rest of us to think? When the average CEO pay is 200 times the line worker - income distribution does not exist - and no one is worth that much money - I don't care how brilliant they are - no one is worth that paycheck. Now granted, they give a large sum to charity - but to hear folks cry about tax rates for the highest 5% of earners - is is just bullshit. It is reverse entitlement - so next time I hear someone say the government does not need to be involved in income distribution, I return the challenge - then what is the tax code for? What is the military for? What is equality then? I challenge each of them to drive through some of the poorest communities, with their windows down and the doors unlocked, and see what opportunity those folks have. What access do they have? I can answer that question, but I am afraid it will never make it to the boardrooms and golf courses and private jets. I don't know the answer to the question, I do know what has not worked - endless tax cuts, war in the middle east, and making special interest groups people - but hopefully we can all figure it out together.